The House and Senate have reached a hard-fought agreement on pipeline safety legislation (HR 2845), setting the stage for Congress to pass the bill before it adjourns for the year, the leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee said Thursday.

“Next week, it’s our hope” the House will pass the legislation “pretty quickly,” send it to the Senate for its approval and then on to the White House for the president’s signature, a spokesman for the committee told NGI Friday. The House is expected to adjourn as soon as Friday.

“We are confident that a bill to improve the nation’s pipeline safety will be enacted this year,” said Martin Edwards, vice president of legislative affairs for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America which represents interstate natural gas pipelines.

Transportation Committee leaders have been negotiating for weeks with House Energy and Commerce Committee officials, as well as Senate Commerce Committee leaders, to reach an agreement on the bill (see NGI, Dec. 5). The three committees have jurisdiction over pipeline safety legislation in Congress.

“I am pleased that Republicans and Democrats in both chambers came together to move this important bill forward,” said Committee Chairman John L. Mica (R-FL). In what has been a very rancorous, partisan Congress, this has been the one piece of legislation that has enjoyed bipartisan support.

“‘This bill does much to hold those responsible for pipeline accidents accountable, but we recognize that the top priority is to prevent any pipeline failure before they occur, which is why the bill takes measurable steps to strengthen safety standards,” said Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The Pipeline Safety, Regulatory Certainty, and Job Creation Act of 2011:

Lawmakers and safety advocates have pushed for a stronger pipe safety bill in the wake of the September 2010 Pacific Gas and Electric pipeline explosion, and the pipeline explosion in Allentown, PA, earlier this year, which killed five people (see NGI, Feb. 21; Sept. 13, 2010).

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